That Little Boy
Modern Day Moscow, 236 a.d.
It was finally spring, so Sasha and her coven were able to hunt regularly again. Russian winters made it so difficult to catch scents that they needed to migrate somewhere south until weather conditions got better. Of course, the downfall to the weather was that so many people usually died through the winter and carried their diseases into spring if they lived long enough. In truth, there was no good place to hunt. Everyone was either sick or already drained of blood from the fastest vampire.
"Maybe we should just stay south permanently. If nothing else, we'll have an easier time finding people all year round." Sasha shook her head at Kate.
"No. The hotter it is, the more parasite and disease ridden they are. It doesn't matter where we go. Besides, I'd rather stay as far away from that Volturi coven we've heard so much about as possible."
"Mother, you heard what others have said. They only kill you if you make yourself known to humans or something. We don't do that, we're golden."
"I still say we stay up north. Besides, southern countries smell funny. The heat makes everything worse." Knowing her mother wasn't going to change her mind, Kate stayed quiet and they continued to all walk together through the woods trying to find someone to eat. While they were walking, they all passed a village. But like most of the other villages they passed, it was riddled with disease and hardly enough human blood to satisfy all four of them.
"Should we look for someone clean?" Sasha sighed and nodded at Tanya.
"We might as well. We might find someone clean or tolerable while we're here. Split up and we'll meet back here after we've searched the whole village. If we can't find anyone, we'll leave everyone be and keep looking."
They all did as Sasha said and split up into the village to look for clean blood. But while they were looking, other vampires caught a good scent and a few others were beginning to flock towards the village. Sasha and the others tried to stay discrete, but once the other vampires entered the village, there was screaming from villagers from being attacked by vampires, then thrown to the ground discarded because their blood was sick. One thing was certain; it would be a painful three days for a great many people in the village. Sasha was towards the far East end of the village when she started hearing a woman screaming something different than the other women.
"Do what you want but please leave my baby alone!" The voice was shrieking and panicked and it got Sasha's attention. Sasha made her way to the home where she heard the voice and when she arrived, it was a little house where a woman was having her neck bitten and her husband was on the ground also dead. This must have been where the clean scent was coming from. When she was in the doorway, the vampire threw the now dead woman on the ground and looked at Sasha and smiled kindly. It was a man with black hair and pale skin almost like the snow.
"Hello. I'm sorry, but I've drunk all the clean blood. The little boy doesn't smell too bad if you want to take a whack at him." Sasha rolled her eyes with a small smile.
"How kind of you to think of a stranger in need." He laughed at Sasha's sarcasm and walked out of the house.
"I try. But hey, I've been lonely for a while now. Maybe we could be more than simple strangers." Sasha shook her head.
"I'm flattered, but I can't leave my daughters for a fling."
"You have daughters?" Sasha nodded.
"They were changed with me when a vampire invaded our home. My eldest daughter was to be married, but something happened." Sasha didn't speak on the matter further and the stranger looked a little sad for her.
"That's a terrible shame. But at least you still have your family with you. Mine were taken when I was changed. I was sick you see, so the vampire discarded me and I watched him kill my wife and two sons."
"I'm sorry to hear that. I can see why you've been so lonely." He smiled a little again.
"I don't suppose you would be willing to take me up on my offer now." Sasha grinned and shrugged.
"Perhaps if I see you again sometime soon, I'll keep you company. I'm Sasha by the way."
"I'm Vasilii. I look forward to seeing you again Sasha."
"Likewise." Then Vasilii took Sasha's hand in his and gave in a kind kiss before running off into the village to take another sniff around to find more clean blood. Sasha stayed and looked at the little boy that was cowering in the corner staring at his mother.
The boy looked so sickly. His skin was almost as pale as Sasha's with the sickening tint of yellow to it and his eyes were bloodshot. His feet and hands were calloused to near rock hand consistency from what she could tell and he was crying while staring at his parents. His blood smelled horrible. There was the smell of good blood, but it was muddied by the smell of the disease he had. Sasha walked to the little boy who looked at her and trembled and cried more at the site of her red eyes.
"My name is Sasha. What is yours?" The little boy kept crying and wouldn't answer her. Sasha kept looking at the poor boy and her heart began to hurt for him. "I'm so sorry about your mother and father. If you had another family member, I doubt they're still alive." Hearing that made the boy cry even harder and much louder and it made Sasha feel worse.
"Mommy…..daddy…." That's all Sasha could get the little boy to say. It pained her heart to see this small child all alone with no one left to be there for him. And he was so young and sick. He wouldn't live long with parents let alone without them. Then Sasha had an idea. A very bad and illegal idea.
"Hey. What if I took care of you? I'll take care of you and I'll make sure you're happy. I'll make up for everything that happened here. I promise." The little boy didn't answer. He only kept crying. Instead of waiting for the little boy's answer, she took a hold of him and started running out of the village as fast as she could.
Most of the villagers had been killed or were changing by then, so most of the vampires were gone from the village by now. Tanya, who had been in the general area her mother had been, saw Sasha run away into the woods looking like she was holding something. But she couldn't tell what it was. Tanya didn't bother following her mother. She could see her face and she looked as if she wanted to be alone. Tanya ran around the village looking for Katrina and Irina and they all met each other at the entrance of the large village. Katrina looked and smelled around and looked at Tanya.
"Did you see mother?" Tanya nodded.
"Yeah I did. She ran out of the village holding something."
"What was she holding?" Tanya shrugged.
"I don't know, I couldn't see. She was hiding it to her chest. She looked like she wanted to be alone." Irina looked a little nervous.
"What should we do? When will she come back?" Tanya patted Irina's shoulder to calm her a little.
"Don't worry, Irina. I'm sure mother will be back soon. We should just wait here for her so she can find us as soon as she's finished what she needed to do."
"But how long will that take?"
"I don't know, Irina. All we can do is be patient." Reluctantly, the sisters stayed close to Tanya and waited for Sasha to return as Tanya said to.
Sasha tried to get as far away from the village as she possibly could. She needed to make sure she could change the boy without anyone finding them, particularly another vampire. One could never tell which vampires were lax on the rules and which ones looked at the rules like sticklers with their tails between their legs constantly looking over their shoulders for the wrath of the Volturi. Tanya eventually found a cave that went deep into the ground and was a perfect place to hide the little boy while he changed. When Sasha was sure they were alone, she bit the still crying little boy's neck and stayed close to him while he screamed in pain and screamed for it to be over.
After three days of watching the little boy, something changed in him. He started to not look so scared and his expression had become slightly blank. His skin was no longer an unhealthy looking pale yellow, but was now simply pale. All blemishes and scars left his little face and his hair grew thicker and a deeper brown then before. His face was a little round, but he was a beautiful little boy and had a cute little button nose and sweet little almond shaped eyes and full little lips. And when he opened his eyes, the scarlet red was piercing and seemed to add some fierceness to his cute face. When he looked at Sasha, he seemed confused.
"Who are you?" Sasha smiled at the boy and patted his head.
"My name is Sasha. I saved you from death by disease when your parents were killed. Do you remember?" The little boy shook his head.
"I don't remember. I can't remember anything but now." Sasha sighed.
"Do you remember your name?" He shook his head.
"No." Sasha looked at the boy a little more and tried to think of a name for the little boy. Then she remembered the vampire that had killed his family but spared him. Perhaps his actions were truly cruel, but at the moment, Sasha thought of it as kind that he spared this innocent child from death. So it only seemed appropriate to give that vampire his due respect.
"How about I name you Vasilii? It's a strong name and beautiful too." The little boy smiled and it was the sweetest smile Sasha had ever seen.
"Vasilii is my name now." Sasha giggled and nodded her head. "And you're Sasha." Sasha nodded.
"Yes. But you can call me mommy."
"Okay mommy." Then Vasilii moved closer to Sasha and gave her a tight hug. Sasha couldn't take her eyes off the boy. He was such a beautiful child and had a smile like an angel. He didn't deserve to be killed so young. Sasha had no regrets of changing him. Her only sorrow was that she would have to keep him hidden. "My throat hurts, mommy."
"I know, sweetie. You're thirsty for blood. I'll go get you someone to drink alright. You stay right here and don't move from this spot. Can you do that for me, Vasilii?" Vasilii nodded enthusiastically.
"I sure can. I'll stay right here." Sasha giggled when Vasilii stood up like a proper soldier would and stood very still with a big smile on his face.
"Good boy, Vasilii. You wait here and I'll be back soon with something for you." Vasilii nodded his head and stayed right where Sasha told him to.
Sasha went out to look for people for Vasilii and managed to find a village near the cave where she'd taken him. Meanwhile, Tanya, Irina, and Katrina had long since lost their patience and were now fruitlessly looking for Sasha. They met up again after four hours of looking and Katrina looked about ready to burst into an electrical charge. It had happened once before when she was mad and she'd been trying to gain a good control of her gift ever since.
"This is ridiculous. Where the hell is she? We've been looking for days now." Irina looked nervous.
"Do you think what she was holding was a clean human? Maybe while she was running off, she got into a fight with another vampire….and lost. What if that vampire set her on fire? What if momma's dead?" Tanya shook her head.
"No, it wasn't a clean human. Vampires would've flocked around her long before she could reach the village lines if that were the case. And I didn't smell clean blood. Only sickly." Katrina rolled her eyes.
"Then where is she? Why did she even leave?"
"I don't know, Katrina. Maybe she just wanted to be alone. Something could've upset her and she wanted some time alone."
"Like what? What would upset her about hunting?"
"Maybe….I don't know, Katrina. Let's just keep looking for her instead of sitting around arguing okay." Agreeing on that much, they split up again and kept looking for Sasha.
After an hour, Sasha managed to find one human that was clean enough. He had a cold, but it was better than a plague that was going around. When she got back to the cave, Vasilii was standing in the same position she left him in and jumped and bit the man as soon as he smelled the blood and was finished with him before Tanya could bring him to the back of the cave. When he was done, he looked at Sasha with another big grin.
"More, more. Please, more." Sasha smiled.
"Vasilii, those were the only clean people I was able to find. I know you're still thirsty, but try to be patient." Vasilii lost his smile and started pouting.
"But I want more." Sasha sighed.
"I know, Vasilii. But you need to be patient okay. I promise, the first clean human I find, I'll give it to you." Vasilii grinned wide again and cheered.
"Yay! Thank you mommy!" Sasha smiled, but also patted on Vasilii's head asking him to keep his voice down. Vasilii became quiet as Sasha asked him to and then Sasha took a moment to listen and see if anyone had heard them.
"Thank you, Vasilii. Now, mommy's going to try and look for food again. But promise me that you'll continue to stay in this spot okay. I don't want anything to happen to do." Vasilii grinned and nodded. Then went back into his cute little soldier stance that he'd taken before while Sasha left the cave to keep looking.
While she was looking, Tanya and her sisters were getting closer to where she was hunting and could smell her a little better than before. Kate sighed in relief and began running faster for the scent, as did the other two sisters.
"Finally we find her. I'm planning on having a stern talk with her about this once we find her." Tanya couldn't help giggling.
"You're not having a stern anything with mother. She'll smack the stern right out of you. You know that." Kate laughed a little.
"She's not really in a position to be mad at me. She's the one who wondered off suddenly without a word. For all we know, she could be dead." Tanya rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"She's not dead, Katrina. She's just missing."
"You make it sound like one's better than the other."
"Missing is better than dead."
"Sometimes." Irina interrupted Kate.
"We don't have the time to quarrel over word play. Let's just find mother so we can at least know she's alright." Neither saying anything more, they continued to follow their mother's scent until they finally found Sasha running towards a village that was in the area. Sasha caught her daughter's scents and stopped while they were running to her. Irina ran to hug her while Kate and Tanya stood close by.
"Mother. Why did you run off like that? We were worried about you." Sasha smiled at Tanya and shrugged.
"I got a human that I didn't want to share. That's all." Kate asked her question.
"Then why were you gone so long. We waited for you at the other village for days. We were beginning to think you'd abandoned us or something." Sasha laughed and shook her head.
"Of course not. I was looking for the three of you actually. I assumed you had left the village already and I was looking for the three of you in this area. I thought you would follow me when you were done." Tanya looked confused.
"But you always tell us to stay put whenever we lose you and you'll just find us."
"That's when you were children. You're all hardly children now."
"But why would you look for us here? You didn't think to at least check at the village?" Sasha sighed.
"Honey, I don't need to explain myself to you. I'm looking for some clean blood right now, so help me with that. And I'll want to eat alone for a while, so just wait at the village and I promise this time I'll come and look for you there. Okay?"
All three nodded their heads, but they looked confused. Sasha was acting strangely and they weren't sure what to say or do about it. Instead, they followed her into the village and they all looked around for some clean blood. As luck would have it, there weren't any other vampires in the area, so they were able to have all they wanted of what was available. Sasha snatched two humans that were the cleaner of all the villagers and was off in an instant, leaving Tanya and the others alone to hunt some more. Though they were all a little suspicious as to what their mother was doing, they stayed quiet about it and waited at the village for her. When Sasha arrived back at the cave where Vasilii was waiting patiently, she tossed the screaming humans in front of him and he had his fill of their blood within minutes. When he was done, he looked at Sasha with a big smile.
"My throat doesn't hurt as much anymore. But I'm still thirsty." Sasha smiled apologetically.
"I'm afraid that aspect never goes away my love. It's part of being a vampire honey." Vasilii pouted.
"That's no fun."
"I know, sweetie."
"So where are we going next? This cave is really boring." With a heavy heart, Sasha gave Vasilii the best answer she could.
"Well, Vasilii, I can't let you out of this cave. Vampires aren't really allowed to change children and if anyone saw you, then they would tell the Volturi and they would kill us both."
"Who are the Volturi? Why would they kill us, mommy? What did we do wrong?"
"The Volturi are the royal family of our kind. And what you are is called an immortal child, and the Volturi have made it clear that those types of vampires are to not exist because they're dangerous. I can't risk anyone seeing you. I couldn't bare it if anyone hurt you." Vasilii's face turned sad and he hugged Sasha seemingly like he was about to cry.
"But I didn't do anything, did I mommy? I didn't do anything bad, right?" Sasha was quiet a moment and she felt the ache from Vasilii's nonexistent tears. She was beginning to think that changing Vasilii really wasn't a good idea. Maybe she could've just nursed him back to health and let him go when he was old enough to take care of himself. She'd raised children to adults before. But thinking about what she should've done wouldn't change anything and she decided to deal with what she had done.
"No you didn't, Vasilii. You're a good little boy and mommy won't let anyone say otherwise." Vasilii finally smiled again and hugged Sasha tighter.
"I love you mommy."
"I love you too, Vasilii."
In truth, the concept that Sasha was telling Vasilii was something that was out of his control or understanding. All he understood was that if someone saw him, he would be in trouble and that alone was enough to persuade Vasilii to never leave the cave. Meanwhile, Tanya and her sisters were still at the village waiting after two hours had passed. They'd drank all the blood they possibly could and the past few overcast days have allowed them to stand at the front without looking suspicious. But after three hours, Kate finally lost her patience yet again.
"She's taking forever. Again." Tanya sighed.
"Katrina, just calm down."
"I can't believe that you don't think this is strange. This is the second time and I can't think of any reason that she should be taking this long just to eat alone. That was the excuse she gave us right? If all she did was go eat, then why is she taking so long?"
"Katrina, I don't know. But she said she would come back, so we're going to wait her for her and won't say a word of complaint when she gets back. Is that clear to both of you?" Irina spoke next.
"Tanya, you have to admit Katrina has a point. It's been hours and there's no reason for something like feeding to take so long. Don't you think it's a little suspicious?" Tanya rolled her eyes.
"Sure, it's strange, but what would mother possibly be doing that would be so horrible that we need to worry?" Irina shrugged.
"I don't know. I'm just saying that maybe we should stay with mother from now on. Next time she runs off, we'll follow her." Tanya shook her head.
"Mother would be furious if we did that and you know it. You should all know better than to disobey mother."
"But Tanya, what other option do we have? Right now it's been a few hours, but what if she doesn't come back for days again like she did last time? We can't keep doing this. You don't think she wants us to go off on our own or something do you?" Kate shrugged at Irina's final thought.
"Well, we are well into adulthood, human wise anyway. If we were still human, we'd all be married by now and mother would live with Tanya and the rest of us would live on our own with our husbands and their families."
"But we'd still be close to each other. And mother always said she wanted to keep us close to her always. Why would she want us to leave her side?"
"In that case, Irina, I think you just answered your own question."
"But Katrina, regardless, we don't know where she is and that's distressing me." Kate laughed a little under her breath.
"I'll say. If you were human, your hair would be white by now." Irina frowned at Kate.
"Don't make fun of me sister, this isn't funny." Tanya interrupted them both.
"Would it make all of you feel better if we went and looked for her?" Irina and Kate nodded. "How about this, I'll go look for her. You two stay here and wait for her. If she comes back, follow my scent and get me. Can we all do that?"
"Yes, Tanya, now go look for mother."
Tanya looked at her sisters a moment before she ran off in the direction she remembered mother running to. She wasn't running for very long before she found a cave. She could smell her mother and another presence there. Then her mother was out of the cave and right in front of Tanya in an instant. Once she was in front of her, she turned Tanya in the other direction and pulled her with in a fast passed walk in the other direction. Confused, Tanya started asking Sasha the questions she had.
"Who were you with in that cave?"
"No one, dear. Let's just look for your sisters and we'll wonder around a little more."
"Mother, why didn't you just tell us you were seeing someone?" Sasha gave Tanya a weird look.
"What are you talking about? I'm not seeing anyone."
"Then who' scent was that with you in the cave?" Sasha stiffened a moment and Tanya noticed it. "Mother, what's wrong?"
"Nothing. I'm not seeing anyone per se, Tanya. I'm….having an affair."
"Okay, but why didn't you just tell us? It would've been nice to know why it was taking you so long to get back to us."
"I know, Tanya, and that's my fault. But I promise, it's nothing serious."
"It's not serious, but you've already spent three days and three hours with this man?"
"Tanya, what I do in my free time is nothing you need to worry about, alright. I've met a man, he's a great lover, and that's all you need to know."
"Well, what's his name?" Sasha was about to say Vasilii, seeing as that man had an interest in her anyway, but Tanya didn't know that person. Sasha didn't even really know him. So she chose a name out of the air, which just happened to be their father's name.
"Nicolai." Tanya was surprised.
"Same name as father. Does he look anything like father? I always thought you would never want to fall in love again after father died."
"I never said we were in love, honey. It's a mutual sexual affair, nothing more." Tanya was extremely surprised by the way her mother was acting. Sasha had always said no man would ever compare to her late husband and she had no plans of trying to find a man that could, and yet here she was having an affair? That didn't make any sense.
"Why the sudden change of heart with regards to lovers, mother?"
"Tanya, please, I just want to find your sisters. And keep this nonsense between you and me, alright? You sisters don't need to know about Nicolai. He's a good lover, and that's his only value, so let's not put more importance on him than what's needed."
"If you say so, mother."
Tanya was extremely confused at that moment. If this Nicolai person was good enough for mother to consider starting any type of romantic relationship with him, then he would certainly be important enough to tell her and her sisters about. Sasha wasn't the type of woman that would spread her legs for a good fuck. That just wasn't her. Katrina maybe, but not Sasha. And even Katrina picked lovers really sparingly. In the time they'd been vampires, she'd slept with three men. Three. And both of them no more than two times. She used her sexuality on her victims more often than not. And with the lack of clean blood available, that habit was another thing that was rare and far between. But Sasha taking a lover wasn't right. Tanya kept thinking about the improbability of her mother having a lover until they found Katrina and Irina again. When they saw each other, Katrina stood, fuming.
"Again, mother? Where have you been?" Sasha gave Katrina a stern look.
"Don't talk to me like I'm a child, young lady. I'm here now, so let's get moving." Katrina was taken back a moment by Sasha's tone. Tanya and Irina were just as baffled. They'd all seen their mother mad, but she never reacted this violently to anything. Irina timidly spoke up.
"Mother, is something wrong?" Sasha realized her tone and felt horrible about it and took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry, girls. I'm just on edge right now. I'm sorry for snapping at you Katrina." That made Tanya even more confused. The point of having a lover was to unwind. So it would make more sense for her to be in a good mood. Why was she so tense? "Why don't we get moving? There must be clean blood close by."
Everyone was quiet again as they walked away from the village to look for more clean blood. At a time in history like this, there was little more that a vampire could do to pass the time. The fact that they'd found two villages with clean blood in such a short time was a rare occurrence. Sasha kept everyone close to the cave where Vasilii was, though. She wouldn't allow them to go very far and that struck them all as odd as well. But Tanya kept her mouth shut and never questioned Sasha again when she ran off to be with her lover, or so she said that's what was happening. Vasilii was constantly bored and Sasha took a few days to look for a new cave for Vasilii to hide in. When she found one, she ran back to him and brought him to the new place, keeping Vasilii hidden under her jacket and no one saw him. Meanwhile, Tanya and the others waited for hours for their mother to return.
This went on for three years. Sasha would wonder off to Vasilii and Tanya assumed it was to be with a lover and Katrina and Irina became so used to it that they never questioned it again. Though Katrina would still complain about it from time to time. She was able to wonder off herself several times and look for fun of her own and be back two days later and Sasha still wouldn't have come back. And after three years, Vasilii didn't change. He didn't grow or learn new things and ways of thinking. He stayed exactly the same. He'd even thrown a tantrum on a village one time because he was so thirsty and wanted blood. By some miracle, Sasha managed to keep him at bay and bring him back into hiding without any vampires seeing him. But they certainly heard him. Particularly, a vampire by the name of Murdock and his mate, Svetlana.
"What was that noise?" Svetlana looked in the direction the noise had come from with her hands still brushing through his hair.
"It sounded like a screaming child." Murdock stood up on the branch he and his mate had been resting on and looked in the distance towards the village. He saw Sasha running towards a cave a few miles away and she looked like she was carrying something. "Can you see what it was?"
"I think so. There's a woman, a vampire obviously, running away from the village. I can't see what she's holding, though. She's covering it with her cloths."
"Should we see what it is?"
"I'll go look. You stay here and wait for me."
"No, I'll come with you."
"Svetlana, I said stay here. It's probably nothing anyway, okay. You keep watch from here just in case, alright?" Reluctantly, Svetlana nodded her head and stayed at the tree while Murdock ran off in the direction Sasha was running. Svetlana watched intently while Murdock caught up to Sasha. Sasha saw him and ran into the cave and dropped off Vasilii. Svetlana looked into the cave and saw Vasilii and his bright red eyes and was stunned. Murdock didn't see Vasilii right away. All he saw was Sasha walk out of the cave facing him with her arms suddenly free.
"What do you want?" Sasha was extremely cautious and Murdock became cautious from her tone.
"I heard a strange noise and I came to check it out. You were the one running from the destruction holding something. I guessed you knew what had happened." Sasha shook her head.
"I'm afraid I don't."
"You just came from that village and you don't know what happened?"
"No, I don't. Now please leave me be." Murdock and Sasha looked at each other for a while. Then Murdock crossed his arms suspiciously.
"What were you carrying here? You seemed intent on not letting me see it."
"It's nothing. Please leave now." Murdock stood there a moment looking at Sasha. He finally decided to leave, but then he saw Vasilii looking out of the cave. He saw the baby face and bright red eyes, then looked right at Sasha stunned.
"That child." Knowing he'd seen Vasilii, Sasha ran to Murdock and tried grabbing his head to rip it from his shoulders. But Murdock was faster and he dodged. Svetlana saw them begin fighting and started running to help him.
Svetlana finally arrived to help and she grabbed a hold of Sasha to keep her still so Murdock could run. Once Murdock was free, he screamed for Svetlana to run. Before running, she tore Sasha's head from her shoulders so she and Murdock could run without being pursued. Vasilii screamed and ran to Sasha to help her. Murdock and Svetlana got a good look the boy before they began running. In a tantrum, Vasilii followed them while Sasha healed herself and attacked Murdock. When he had a hold of him, he tore Murdock limb from limb. Svetlana ran to her mate and grabbed Vasilii to throw him off Murdock. Once Vasilii was off him, she started putting Murdock back together. Once he had his composure back, Vasilii was about to attack again. Murdock grabbed a hold of him and threw him against a tree, breaking it down. Sasha, who was now healed herself, ran to the fight and grabbed Vasilii. Murdock and Svetlana ran off immediately and got away this time. Sasha ran them both back to the cave and started panicking.
"They saw you. Vasilii, why didn't you stay in the cave like I said to? I told you to stay in the cave."
"I wanted to help." Vasilii was giving Sasha a sad face.
"Vasilii, I could've just told him to leave. He was about to until he saw you." Sasha's voice started breaking from dry tears. Vasilii began having the same dry tears and they hugged each other tightly comforting one another.
Sasha knew she had to move Vasilii to another place so he could hide. That kept her away from Tanya and the others for a record eight days. But again, when Sasha came back, they said nothing about it, especially when their mother looked especially upset when she came back. Tanya wondered if maybe her lover had broken off the relationship and now Sasha would be home more. But Tanya didn't say anything by her mother's request. When Murdock and Svetlana had gotten far enough away and it seemed like they weren't being followed, Svetlana grabbed a tight hold of Murdock and started kissing him.
"Don't you ever run off on your own again! I almost lost you! You're so stupid!" Murdock held Svetlana tightly and let her get out all her worries and frustration before they kissed lovingly.
"I'm sorry, Svetlana. Thank you for helping me. I don't think I would've gotten away otherwise."
"Don't say that. I don't want to hear it."
"Calm down, my love. I'm alright. Everything's alright now." Murdock was quiet a moment trying to think. He knew what he'd seen. "That child."
"It was an immortal child, Murdock. I saw that boy's eyes. He was far too young."
"I suspect the boy was dying and the woman felt pity for him and thought it kinder to change him."
"What are we going to do? Should we leave it alone?" Murdock shook his head.
"No. That child is an illegal creature. And when the Volturi find out, we might get in trouble for keeping quiet about it. It's safer to tell then to keep silent and have it bite us in the ass." Svetlana clutched onto Murdock's jacket in rage.
"They hurt you, Murdock. Almost killed you. I can't let that go."
"If we tell the Volturi, Svetlana, we tell them because it's the right thing to do. Not because you're angry."
"Should we take some time to think about it then?" Murdock shook his head.
"No. We need to do this now. We'll go South until we reach the Red sea. Then we'll follow the cost into Italy from there."
"Will we be able to find Volterra that way?"
"If nothing else, we can look at a map." Murdock kissed Svetlana and they walked together hand in hand to the South. Murdock began to feel heaviness in his heart and his mind as they made their way to Italy. At first, Svetlana was all too happy tell the Volturi, but as they got closer and closer to Italy, she began to feel the same as Murdock. It seemed wrong to tell on this woman. When they were outside the small village of Volterra late one night, they looked at each other with sad faces.
"Are we sure we want to do this?" Murdock took a moment to think. He wasn't sure anymore. It felt like telling the Volturi about this child would make them evil.
"I don't know." Svetlana and Murdock were quiet.
"Do you think anyone in the Volturi speaks Russian?"
"I doubt it."
"So how will we tell them?" Murdock looked at Svetlana oddly.
"What do you mean?" Svetlana smiled for the first time in days.
"Well, if they don't speak Russian, then we have no way to tell them. We can't be held accountable and we can't be blamed for not telling them." Murdock chuckled and kissed Svetlana.
"What an evil genius you are my love." Murdock and Svetlana shared another kiss before they smelled another vampire near them. When they looked up, they saw a woman with mahogany hair.
"Not quite so genius I'm afraid." They both looked at the vampire stunned that she could understand them. Murdock faced her cautiously with Svetlana thing behind Murdock's body.
"You can understand me?" The vampire nodded.
"My native tongue is closer to yours than any of the other coven members, so Aro thought it would be appropriate for me to learn the Slavic languages. For future purposes. As you can see, that came in handy."
"You're a member of the Volturi?" The vampire nodded.
"Yes. I'm Heidi. One of Aro's first members I'll have you know. Now what were you considering keeping from the Volturi? You do know hiding things makes you just as responsible as the wrongdoers, am I right?" Murdock tightened his hold on Svetlana's hand, hoping to make her feel better, before answering.
"Yes, we're aware."
"So that being the case, tell me why I should allow you two to live." Murdock was silent again. He felt guilty about this. "If you have no answer for me, then I'm afraid I'll have to kill you both."
"Wait!" Heidi looked at Svetlana who had screamed to stop her. "We're here to report the creation of an Immortal Child." Murdock closed his eyes a moment while Heidi looked a little surprised.
"An Immortal Child? Are you certain?"
"Yes. We've both seen the boy with our own eyes. And the woman that created him. We came here to tell the Volturi." Heidi looked at them both a moment.
"I see. This is a pretty serious offense."
"Don't tell Aro about that, please." Heidi shook her head.
"I'm afraid that part is impossible. I take it you don't know Aro's power? He's a mind reader. He hears all your thoughts and all the thoughts you've ever had just by touching you. Something like considering to keep this a secret is something that he would hear. And he needs to read your thoughts so we can find this immortal child and his creator."
"We'll show you where they are." Heidi looked at them a moment thinking. The Volturi had encountered several cases like this since Heidi had joined the coven. And each time, Aro got the identity of the assailants and sent the informers off on their way.
"That won't be necessary. Now if you'll please come with me, I'll take you to our castle and introduce you to Aro. If you do that, I'll make sure you both leave this village alive. Can we agree on that?" Svetlana nodded, thinking of hers and her mate's lives.
"Yes. Just please let us go."
"Then come with me."
Heidi began running to the castle in the distance and Murdock and Svetlana followed her. Once at the door, Heidi banged the large doors with the large doorknobs. Not long after, another female vampire opened the door. This one was distinctly Italian and a short little thing. Heidi addressed her as Renata and they all walked up the large staircase to the main room where Aro and the others were. When Aro saw Murdock and Svetlana, he stood from his thrown and walked to them. Caius and Marcus watched with their mates at their sides and Aro's mate sat in his thrown waiting and watching.
"Ah, Heidi, Renata. Who are these two?" Murdock stood at the front with Svetlana still close behind him.
"I am Murdock, sir. This is my mate, Svetlana. We're here because…" Aro held up his hand to silence him.
"I'll listen a different way." Aro then walked the rest of the way to Murdock and grabbed a hold of his hand to listen. He did the same to Svetlana and smiled when he was done. "I see. This is quite serious. As is the plan of not telling my coven." Then Aro looked at Heidi. "You promised them they'd go free without consulting me?"
"Forgive me, Aro. I had hoped to put their fears to rest." Caius stood up.
"It's not your place to do so, Heidi. Next time, you wait to make promises until you know you can keep them." Heidi bowed her head.
"My apologies sir." Murdock and Svetlana both began to get nervous and kept their guard up. Aro then continued.
"You should both know better than that." Then Aro looked towards his guards. "Felix." Felix was next to Murdock in an instant and about to rip him apart until Svetlana screamed and Aro held up his hand at Felix telling him to stop.
"Please, don't! We'll show you where they are! We'll do anything you need us to! Please don't hurt him!" Aro looked at Svetlana a moment and smiled.
"Such a devoted mate you are, Svetlana. I'm tempted to let you both go." Caius shook his head.
"Don't do that, Aro. If you let them go, who's to say they will go through with keeping other things from us? They're defiant and that's punishable by death." Marcus spoke up next.
"Aro, don't listen to him. They're here and they told us. They did the right thing in the end." Aro again held up his hand to silence the masses. When he had a moment to consider, he smiled and spoke reassuringly.
"Very well. I shall allow you both to live. But know that this generosity won't happen again. Now you say you know where this immortal child and his creator are. I suggest you show Felix, Santiago, and Heidi the way. I'll come with. But I want the rest of you to stay here."
Felix finally released Murdock and followed him and Svetlana once he had back his composure. It took a few days to reach Russia and by then, Sasha had been back with her daughters and worrying about Vasilii for almost a month. She was hoping that maybe those two hadn't told the Volturi about Vasilii. Maybe they would both get out of this okay. But just in case, she became even more secretive with her daughters. She hardly said a word to them at all through that month.
"Mother." Sasha looked at Irina who was showing her usual concern. "You seem miles away. What happened?"
"I've told you, Irina, it's nothing important."
"But mother, you haven't fed in weeks. You keep taking humans away, but your eyes stay black. What's going on?"
"Nothing!" Irina jumped back and Katrina and Tanya looked at their mother stunned by her outburst. Once she took a deep breath and calmed down, she spoke again. "There's nothing you girls need to worry about. I know you're just worried about me, but please don't be."
Everyone stayed quiet again and followed Sasha as she kept going forward. Now she looked almost stone like when she walked. But they all kept quiet. But as they were walking, Sasha smelled Vasilii and a large group of other scents. Two of which she recognized and a furry and sadness and fear filled her like no other. She stood completely still. They all smelled the group, but Sasha was the only one stunned by it. Katrina looked at Sasha confused.
"What's wrong now?"
"They have Vasilii. Oh God, Vasilii."
"Who's Vasilii?" Then there was a loud scream from a little boy calling for his mommy. Felix and the rest of the Volturi guards that had come with Murdock and Svetlana came out of the trees and became visible to Sasha and her coven. Felix was holding Vasilii in a vice grip and Vasilii was screaming mommy and to be let go. Sasha went even colder when she saw Aro standing at the front of that group.
"So you're the creator of this immortal child. Please, don't try to deny it. This boy's thoughts were clear and honest. You won't get away with this, Sasha." Katrina, Tanya, and Irina looked at Aro stunned, then looked at their mother. Katrina shook Sasha a little.
"Mother, what is he talking about? What's going on?" Aro looked a little surprised.
"You mean you know nothing of this? You've never seen this little boy?" Katrina shook her head.
"No. I've never seen him before. There must be a mistake." Aro shook his head.
"There is no mistake I fear." Then Aro walked to the group and grabbed a hold of Katrina, Irina, and Tanya all at once to read their thoughts. When he found nothing suspicious, he smiled. "So you really don't know anything about this. No wonder you're both so surprised. But as I said, there is no mistake. You're mother has committed a blatant offense and we can't let her go."
"Mommy! Mommy, help me, please!" Sasha looked at Vasilii and saw the terror in his eyes. Her motherly instinct took over and she ran to Vasilii. She grabbed Vasilii and Felix allowed it, but grabbed Sasha's arm when she tried to run.
"Now, Felix, if you would start please, I'll get some fire." Katrina screamed.
"Please no! Give her another chance! There must be some misunderstanding!" Tanya and Irina held Katrina back and Sasha yelled at Katrina to stop.
"Don't Katrina! I kept this from all of you! You're all innocent! Don't waste that!" Aro looked at the five of them. Sasha was the only one who seemed to understand. Vasilii was far too young to understand and her daughters were still in shock.
"Is there anything else you would like to say, Sasha? To either your daughter or Murdock and Svetlana?" Sasha looked at Murdock and Svetlana, who both looked away in guilt. Sasha didn't even give them dirty looks. They had no other option but to tell, and she knew that. So instead of wasting her breath on them, she turned her head to her daughters and smiled.
"I'm sorry, Tanya, Katrina, Irina. I'm sorry to do this to you. But don't let this hurt you. Move on without me. I know you can. I love you all. I always will." Then Sasha looked at Vasilii, who was still trembling. "And I'm sorry, Vasilii. I wanted to help you, but it looks like I couldn't." Vasilii clutched Sasha even tighter then.
"I love you mommy." Sasha smiled and hugged Vasilii tighter with her free arm, keeping him as close to her and in her arms as she could.
"I love you too, Vasilii." There was a collective silence among the group while Felix waited for Aro's orders. Once Sasha had said her piece, Aro nodded his head at Felix, who then tore both Sasha and Vasilii to pieces and Santiago threw fire on them both while Sasha's daughters all began screaming for her. They didn't stop until the pyre of fire turned purple and their bodies began burning.
"Well, that's taken care of. You three knew nothing of this, so I'll let you go free. Remember this day and never make the same mistake your mother did."
Aro then gestured to his guards to come with him and they all left with the pyre of purple still burning. Murdock and Svetlana stood there where the sisters sat together and cried without any tears falling. Both felt horrible about what had just happened. They were both left fighting with themselves over what the Volturi had done and how they had no problem leaving three girls without their mother. Murdock was about to walk to them and beg for their forgiveness, but Svetlana stopped his and spoke in his ear in just a whisper.
"They don't want our pity my love. They want time to mourn their mother."
"I can't believe we did this. Forty years I've been this way and this is the first time I've ever felt more like a monster."
"I know, my love." They both held onto each other, watching the burning bodies of the woman and boy they'd only just now learned the names of. While they were watching the fire, Katrina stood from beside Tanya and Irina and looked right at Murdock and Svetlana.
"How could you do this? Have you no heart?" Murdock and Svetlana stood very still, not sure how she would act next. But they also knew whatever her reaction, they deserved it for what they'd done. "You murdered my mother! You didn't tear them apart, but your hands are stained just as Felix and Santiago! This is all your faults!" Tanya stood next to her sister.
"Katrina, calm down." Not having it, Katrina shocked Tanya, sending her onto her back for a second while Katrina went right up to the couple that had indirectly killed her mother.
"This is all your fault! Have you no heart, you heathens!" Tanya ran to Katrina and tried to restrain her so she wouldn't attack Murdock and Svetlana. Tanya looked at them and asked them to just leave. Murdock and Svetlana looked at them, then the pyre, then finally ran off as Tanya asked them to do, leaving the sisters alone to grieve for their mother.
When Tanya had a hold of Katrina, she pulled her back to the ground and Irina walked over to her sisters and sat with them in the snow. They all three watched the fire burn until there was eventually nothing left but ashes that was blown away by gusts of winter wind. When the fire and ashes were all completely gone is when the sisters finally walked away from the site and began wondering around aimlessly, not sure what to do. Tanya was the one that finally took the initiative to run the coven and keep everyone intact. Katrina never forgave Murdock and his mate or Vasilii for everything that happened. And it was more years still before she wasn't angry anymore. Though all three were consumed with hatred towards the Volturi for everything that happened, it was from then on that the three sisters knew to never cross the Volturi and never planned to do so ever again.